Schools
Letter: Tribou Return Will Help Football Team
Jamie Nottingham's statement to the school board.
(Editor's Note: Below is a copy of a speech that Jamie Nottingham on behalf of Horace Greeley High School's football team in calling for the return of Coach Bill Tribou, who has been absent for several weeks for an unknown reason.)
Hello my name is Jamie Nottingham. I am here to speak on the behalf of a group of boys whom I consider my brothers and my closest of friends, the Horace Greeley Football Team.
A major component of a team is a coach, however as of right now we find ourselves leaderless. Coach Tribou is not as his title would imply merely a coach, he is both the architect and foundation of the Horace Greeley football program.
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Although the necessity and complexity of this program are not evident to those who are not a part of it, I can assure you having been a part of the team for three years that each and every morning workout, spring practice and day of camp are as important to football as our pads.
At this crucial point in the 12 month cycle that is the football program every moment spent without our leader guiding and supervising us jeopardizes our season, and for some of us looking to play at the next level, our futures.
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The thought that caption’s Billy Marino’s or Brent Lobien’s opportunity to play football at the college of his dreams is being jeopardized makes me sick to my stomach.
The results of an unprepared football team, thrown together in August are catastrophic. The City of Yonkers football teams last season were examples of this and struggled with embarrassing losses and injuries due to the lack of a program. The only person who knows how to prepare this group of players to be competitive in the Section in which we have great potential is coach Tribou.
Coach Tribou brings an ineffable devotion to us which I will attempt to distill into words. I have watched him give up his sleeping bag to Sammy Tugendhaft a member of the team whose sleeping bag had been drench by rain, Coach stayed up all night In order to make sure that we were safe during Hurricane Irene at Camp Taconic last year. And, I have seen him put aside family issues such as the illness of his mother to prepare us for our next game. A few years back in a lunch conversation with now captain Cory Ekstrom he asked me what Tribou was thinking about right now. We both smiled and knew almost for sure that he was deep in thought wondering who should block the backside tackle or something else team related.
Perhaps almost as vast as is his devotion to the players, team and program is his wisdom and insight regarding the development of boys into men. Tribou sees things in people that no one else sees. He was the first to point out Teddy Graves’ talent at football as opposed to basketball and made him captain as a junior in order to force him to mature. The last time I saw coach he spoke to the team and me about not doing the cool thing, but finding a way to help someone or do something that despite the fact that its value has been marginalized by the student cultures at Greeley: sitting with someone who's alone, standing up for someone who can't or simply picking up some trash.
By depriving us of our coach, leader and mentor you are depriving us of the season we have already worked so hard for, you are depriving us of the future that we deserve, and most importantly and horribly you are depriving us of a hallmark experience in our journey from adolescence to adulthood. I am appalled that this administration and school board would allow a staff issue to directly damage so many students whom the school system exists to serve. The most expedient and ethical solution to this disservice would be the restoration of his position. I ask that justice be done to our team, season and coach.
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